


Some Say

by Loremaiden



Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Christmas Truce of 1914, Community: watsons_woes, Gen, Prompt Fic, World War I
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-21 15:07:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7392199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loremaiden/pseuds/Loremaiden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some say that ever ‘gainst that season comes<br/>Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated,<br/>This bird of dawning singeth all night long;<br/>And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad,<br/>The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,<br/>No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,<br/>So hallow’d and so gracious is the time.  (Hamlet, Act I, Scene I)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Some Say

**Author's Note:**

> Written in response to JWP 2016 #4 (Horsemen of the Apocalypse) on Watson's Woes. Fair Warning--Written very quickly with very little research on the Christmas Truce of 1914.
> 
> Horsemen Of The Apocalypse: Let Death, Famine, Pestilence, or War appear in your entry today in some fashion.

I will admit, I feared the worst when I heard it.

It was Christmas Eve in Ypres, and my ears had caught the carols in between the barked orders and distant patter of gunfire. I was occupied in taking inventory of our medical supplies—not enough, never enough—so I could not join in with the lads in person. Yet I still hummed along to the old familiar favorites. O Little Town of Bethlehem. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear. Good King Wenceslas.

And then I heard not Silent Night, but _Stille Nacht_.

My hand was already reaching for my revolver when a hand rapped on the barracks door. My orderly's voice called out, his young voice cracking with excitement, “Truce! A truce! Come and see, sir!”

...I am grateful Holmes and I created our own personal cypher before my deployment; I fear that a letter that explicitly described this miracle would have been heavily censored otherwise, if not outright destroyed. Besides, I did not wish for my captain to be punished for an act of mercy from a central command that had the luxury of hating an enemy whilst safe in their homes.

The Four Horsemen may have mustered, but they did not ride that night.


End file.
